Known as the Mother of Cobol, Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper was a computer pioneer, naval officer, educator and lecturer, and awarded woman in the computer science field. Her knowledge, education, tenacity, and experience led to her international recognition.

Today, we all remain grateful for her contributions.

Who Is Grace Hopper? The Early Years

Born in December 1906 in New York City, Grace Brewster Murray Hopper was the daughter of Walter Fletcher Murray and Mary Campbell Van Horne. As a child, she was educated in private schools and showed an early interest in engineering.

She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College in 1928 with degrees in mathematics and physics. She then received her master’s degree in mathematics from Yale in 1930 and one year later, began teaching the same subject at Vassar College. She completed her own educational career in 1934 with her Ph.D. in mathematics. But later in life became an educator herself as well as a professional lecturer in the computer science field.

Rear Admiral Hopper’s Naval Career
During World War II, Grace Murray Hopper attempted to enlist in the Navy but was rejected because of her age (34) and small stature. She then took a leave from her work at Vassar College to join the United States Naval Reserve (Women’s Reserve) known as WAVES.

After training at the Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School in Massachusetts, she graduated first in her class. She was then assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard University as a lieutenant, junior grade.

While you’ll read about Hopper’s experiences and contributions to technology next, she did hold onto her affiliation with the Naval Reserve. Although her transfer to the Navy beyond the Reserve was never granted, she earned the rank of commander in 1966, captain in 1973, commodore in 1983, and rear admiral in 1985.

In 1987, she was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal which is the highest non-combat military decoration.

What Is Grace Hopper Known For?

While with the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard, Hopper worked with another computer pioneer, Howard Aiken. Headed by Aiken, the team developed the Mark I computer, also known as the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator. Hopper was tasked with programming the Mark I and also wrote a 500+ page user manual for this early electromechanical computer.

Her and the team’s computations were said to be essential to the war effort. They were used for calculating rocket trajectories, calibrating minesweepers, and creating range tables for new guns.

The Mark II and Mark III soon followed. As the story goes, the team found a moth inside the Mark II one evening in 1947 making Hopper the first to call a computer problem a “bug.” Hopper continued her work with the Harvard Computation Lab until 1949. She then joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, later acquired by Remington Rand. She worked as a senior mathematician on the team developing UNIVAC I, the first large-scale, all-electronic computer to hit the market in 1950.

It was during this time that Hopper suggested a new computer language. She believed that a programming language using English words rather than just symbols could be more widely used. While her suggestion was dismissed for a few years, Hopper didn’t give up on her idea and developed the first computer language compiler.

In 1952, the first version of the program was born and called A-0. Functioning as a linker, it led to the ability to write programs for multiple computers as opposed to individual ones. And the compiler basically “translated mathematical notation into machine code.”

Between 1954 and 1955 came Flow-Matic which is a compiler-based programming language that uses English statements as commands. The program became available to the public in 1958. Flow-Matic was the concept that shaped Cobol.

Defined in 1959, Cobol (common business-oriented language) is a programming language for data processors that is still used today. Hopper promoted this language to both military and private sectors throughout the 1960s. By the 1970s, Cobol was the most widely used computer language worldwide.

Hopper served as director of the Navy Programming Languages Group, developed validation software for Cobol, and the compiler was part of the standardization program for the entire Navy.

In the 1970s, she developed standards for testing computer systems and components. These tests were adopted by the National Bureau of Standards, today, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The Timeline of a Legacy
1906: Born in New York City.

1928: Graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College.

1930: Obtained her master’s in mathematics from Yale University and married New York University professor Vincent Foster Hopper.

1931: Began teaching mathematics at Vassar College.

1934: Completed her Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University.

1943: Joined the U.S. Naval Reserve (WAVES).

1944: Commissioned as a lieutenant, junior grade, and assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard University.

1945: Divorced from her husband, Vincent Foster Hopper.

1949: Joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation as a senior mathematician.

1952: Developed the first computer language compiler.

1954: Developed with her team the Math-Matic and Flow-Matic programming languages.

1959: Defined the Cobol programming language and became a lecturer at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.

1966: Earned the rank of commander and retired from the Naval Reserve.

1967, 1971, 1972: Recalled to active duty in the Naval Reserve, retired once more, and returned to active duty again.

1972 - 1978: Served as a professional lecturer at George Washington University.

1973: Earned the rank of captain in the Naval Reserve and the first American and woman to be named a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society.

1983: Earned the rank of commodore in the Naval Reserve by special Presidential appointment by President Ronald Reagan.

1985: Earned the rank of rear admiral in the Naval Reserve.

1986 - 1987: Retired from the Naval Reserve for good and was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal.

1988: Received the National Medal of Technology.

1991: Named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In January 1992 at the age of 85, Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper passed away in her sleep from natural causes and was laid to rest with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. She had no children. After her passing, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her contributions in the computer science industry.

Thank You, Grace Murray Hopper

Regarding Cobol alone, revisions to it over the decades have led to object-oriented syntaxes used by vendors such as IBM and Fujitsu. Cobol programs are still running on operating systems like Unix and Windows. And the concept of using English statements as computer commands has influenced not only further programming languages but the people who write them and use them every single day.

Without the contributions from Grace Murray Hopper we would not be where we are today in the world of technology. Thank you, Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper.